Final lesson lives on of WWII's 'immortal chaplains'

June 5, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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The centerpiece of the Queen Mary sanctuary is a painting depicting the four chaplains linking arms and praying as the "Dorchester" sank after being torpedoed. David Fox, 70, of Mission Viejo is nephew to the Rev. George Fox, one of four chaplains aboard the troop carrier Dorchester when it was sunk Feb. 3, 1943, by a German submarine, killing nearly 700 men -- making it the third-largest loss at sea of its kind for the U.S. during World War II. Fox created the Immortal Chaplains Foundation in 1997 and established the Four Chaplains Sanctuary on board the Queen Mary in Long Beach. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The United States Postal Serivce issued a postage stamp depicting the four 'Immortal Chaplains' in 1948. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A reproduction of the stained glass window in the Pentagon hangs in the Memorial Sanctuary of The Immortal Chaplains aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Memorial Sanctuary of The Immortal Chaplains is aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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One of the mementos in the display case at the sanctuary is a rescue flasher worn by a survivor of the Dorchester sinking, John W. Fisher. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A harmonica played by Gerhard Buske, first officer of the U-Boat that sank the Dorchester, was used to play "Amazing Grace" to the widow of one of the four chaplains in 2000 by that same officer in Washington, D.C. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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David Fox points to the the image of his uncle, the Rev. George Fox, in a stained glass window at the Memorial Sanctuary of The Four Immortal Chaplains on board the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Fox created the Immortal Chaplains Foundation in 1997 to keep the memory of the four chaplains alive. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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David Fox in the Memorial Sanctuary of The Four Immortal Chaplains aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Fox, 70, of Mission Viejo is nephew to the Rev. George Fox, one of four chaplains aboard the troop carrier Dorchester that was sunk Feb. 3, 1943, by a German submarine, killing nearly 700 men. As the ship was sinking, the four chaplains gave their life preservers to servicemen who had lost theirs and were last seen linking arms and saying a prayer as the ship sank. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The first image inside the door of the sanctuary is of the service portraits of the four chaplains. From left are: Rabbi Alexander Goode, Father John Washington, the Rev. Clark Poling and the Rev. George Fox. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The centerpiece of the Queen Mary sanctuary is a painting depicting the four chaplains linking arms and praying as the "Dorchester" sank after being torpedoed. David Fox, 70, of Mission Viejo is nephew to the Rev. George Fox, one of four chaplains aboard the troop carrier Dorchester when it was sunk Feb. 3, 1943, by a German submarine, killing nearly 700 men -- making it the third-largest loss at sea of its kind for the U.S. during World War II. Fox created the Immortal Chaplains Foundation in 1997 and established the Four Chaplains Sanctuary on board the Queen Mary in Long Beach. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

MISSION VIEJO – For years, it was just a family story about Uncle George.

Then in 1995, David Fox began asking around.

Ever hear of the troop ship Dorchester?

No.

Ever hear of the four chaplains?

No.

Ever hear what they did before the ship sank, taking 672 men to their deaths?

No.

Fox knew what he had to do.

He put his 9-year-old son in the van and, for two years, crisscrossed America.

"I couldn't afford it," says Fox, 70, of Mission Viejo, a stage and television actor. "I just did it."

In time, he tracked down 20 survivors of the Dorchester who described the 1943 torpedo attack. Described how the ship sank in 18 minutes.

And described what the four chaplains – including his uncle, George Fox – did in the final minutes of their lives.

This story really begins in World War I.

In France, Army ambulance driver George Fox gave his gas mask to a wounded French soldier, earning the French Croix de Guerre, or Cross of War. After the war, Fox became a Methodist minister – until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

"I've got to go back and be a chaplain," he told his wife. "I know what these boys will go through."

In January 1943, he boarded the Dorchester in New York Harbor and met his three fellow chaplains: Dutch Reformed minister Clark Poling, Jewish rabbi Alexander Goode, and Catholic priest John Washington.

They counseled the ship's 902 men, joked with them, even held a talent show to ease tension as word spread that a German submarine was tailing them across the Atlantic.

They joked, but no one slept easily the night of Feb. 2 – a day from Greenland with five German submarines patrolling the icy North Sea.

•••

So close.

Greenland was within 100 miles when a periscope lifted above the water and put its crosshairs on the Dorchester.

The time was 12:55 a.m. The water was 36 degrees. The night air was below freezing.

Within seconds, a torpedo struck amidships on the Dorchester's starboard side, a direct hit on the engine room.

Immediately, the lights went out. Amid explosions and screaming, men groped their way topside with flashlights.

There they were met by four chaplains.

And until the last survivor died – earlier this year – they spoke about what those chaplains did.

•••

Already the ship was listing so much that it was hard to stand. Some lifeboats were frozen in place, some destroyed. Others were unreachable.

But there on deck the chaplains remained, handing out life jackets – until all were gone. And then ...

"One soldier screamed, 'Chaplain, I'm going to die,'" David Fox says. "And Father Washington, a former Irish boxer, said, 'No, you're not.' He took his own jacket and forced it on the man."

One by one, each chaplain gave up his life jacket to save another's life.

And that's not all.

They refused to take space in the lifeboats, four of which capsized from overcrowding.

Moments before the ship sank, 1st Sgt. Michael Warish saw the four chaplains at the stern.

"I could see that they were not going overboard," Warish told Fox in 1995. "They were holding one last service."

Crewmen lined the rails, each illuminated by a small red light on his life jacket.

"As I turned around, I saw a sight that will forever be with me," survivor Ben Epstein said in 1995. "It was the Dorchester making its last lurch into the water. And it looked like a Christmas tree."

Survivor James Eardley saw the ship sink too.

"When she rolled, all I could see was the keel up there," he said in 1995. "We saw the four chaplains standing arm-in-arm ... like they were looking up to heaven, you might say. Then the boat took a nosedive. It went right down, and they went with it."

••

Of the 902 men on board, 672 died – America's third- largest loss at sea during World War II.

America mourned, as it did so often in World War II. But over the next few years, news of the chaplains' selflessness lifted our nation.

Streets were named after them. Chapel windows depicted their faces. In 1948, the Post Office issued a 3-cent stamp in their honor: "These Immortal Chaplains ... Interfaith in Action."

America was still divided by religion, and the chaplains represented a coming together of faiths – the shared values of love and compassion.

As John Ladd, one of 230 Dorchester survivors, put it long ago: "It was the finest thing I have ever seen, or hope to see, this side of heaven."

Despite this, the chaplains' story eventually faded. The nation forgot.

And then, in 1995, David Fox lost his 6-month-old daughter to a medical condition known as hydrocephalus.

And that changed everything.

•••

In gratitude for his daughter's hospice care, Fox sought to open a hospice for veterans.

While doing so, he asked veterans about the Dorchester. None had ever heard of it – so he vowed to keep the story alive.

In 1995, he co-founded The Immortal Chaplains Foundation.

In 1999, the foundation began awarding an annual Prize for Humanity to those who risked or gave their lives to protect those of another faith or ethnicity.

In 2005, Fox opened a memorial sanctuary on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. There, visitors can see Dorchester artifacts, photos and a running video of survivors telling their story.

Fox hopes visitors also will get a glimpse into why he's devoted his life to preserving the story of the four chaplains.

"They're part of our American legacy, why America is a special nation," he says. "We are a melting pot. Those chaplains gave up their lives for men of different faiths.

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